Chapter 4 - The Man Who Came Back Smiling

Kevin was waiting outside Paige’s apartment when she got home.

For one impossible second, she thought exhaustion had built him from memory.

Then he pushed away from the brick wall.

Same brown hair. Same crooked mouth. Same habit of keeping both hands in his jacket pockets when he was nervous.

He looked thinner.

He also looked infuriatingly alive.

“Paige.”

She stopped six feet away.

The hallway light buzzed overhead.

“What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Six months ago would have been ideal.”

His face tightened.

“I know how this looks.”

Paige almost laughed.

“How does abandoning me with thirty thousand dollars in forged debt look, Kevin?”

He glanced toward the stairwell.

“Can we go inside?”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

His old charm surfaced automatically, softened around the edges by fatigue.

“Paige, I’m trying to protect you.”

That sentence broke something cleanly.

She set her tote down by her foot.

“You left without a note.”

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“You emptied our account.”

“I needed cash.”

“You put my name on a loan.”

“I didn’t think they’d come after you.”

“You forged my signature.”

“I was going to fix it.”

Paige stared at him.

There had been years when that face could rearrange her judgment with a smile.

Now all she saw was the speed with which he moved responsibility from one sentence to the next.

“What did you take from Moretti Logistics?”

Kevin’s expression flickered.

There.

Small.

But real.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You came into my building at four in the morning.”

His jaw set.

“You’re working with Moretti now?”

“I work for Moretti Logistics. You knew that when you used my password.”

“I never used your password.”

“Then who did?”

He looked away.

Paige felt a cold, sharp satisfaction.

Not because she had trapped him.

Because she finally recognized the pattern.

Kevin lied best when he was improvising. His eyes moved left when he searched for an answer and down when he chose the least dangerous version.

He was doing both.

“Adrian Voss,” she said.

Kevin looked at her.

Too fast.

Paige’s heartbeat kicked.

“You know his name.”

“Everyone knows his name.”

“No. You know why I said it.”

“Paige—”

“Did he give you the temporary badge?”

Kevin stepped closer.

She stepped back.

His expression changed immediately.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Wonderful. That puts you slightly ahead of the debt collector.”

“What collector?”

She watched him carefully.

That surprise was genuine.

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“A man has been calling me for six months.”

Kevin’s face drained.

“How often?”

“At first? Every few weeks. Lately, every day.”

“What does he sound like?”

“Why?”

“Answer me.”

“No.”

“Paige, this matters.”

“So did rent. So did my mother’s care payment. So did waking up every morning wondering whether somebody would be waiting outside my building.”

He dragged a hand through his hair.

“I thought Danner would leave you alone.”

“Danner didn’t.”

Kevin froze.

Paige saw it.

“You do know him.”

“I know who he is.”

“Because you borrowed from him.”

Kevin shook his head.

“Because Voss did.”

The hallway seemed to lose sound.

Paige said nothing.

Kevin looked toward the stairs again.

Then he spoke quickly.

“The thirty thousand was never really for me. Voss needed a payment moved outside the company books. I was supposed to borrow it, make two transfers, and get paid five grand.”

“You risked my name for five thousand dollars?”

“I didn’t know he’d use your information.”

“You signed it.”

“He had a copy of the lease. He said it was just collateral paperwork.”

“You signed my name.”

“I traced it. I didn’t think—”

“No. You didn’t.”

Her anger was suddenly so calm that Kevin took a step back.

“What was the payment for?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I swear.”

“Then why are you here?”

His eyes hardened.

“Because Voss knows you’re looking at the manifests.”

Paige’s stomach dropped.

“How?”

“He has people in the building.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

She gave him a flat look.

“I really don’t.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants you to stop.”

“Then he can ask.”

Kevin let out a humorless laugh.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“I’m currently dealing with the man who forged my signature.”

“I mean Voss.”

“So do I.”

Kevin stared at her as if trying to decide whether she had become someone else while he was gone.

Maybe she had.

He lowered his voice.

“Moretti is using you.”

Paige’s shoulders tightened.

“Explain.”

“Why do you think he suddenly cares about some assistant from the fifth floor?”

“I don’t think he suddenly cares.”

“You should.”

There was jealousy in the answer.

It was so absurd that Paige almost missed the important part.

“What do you know?”

Kevin leaned closer.

“Gabriel knew about the debt before this week.”

Paige’s breath stopped.

“How long?”

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Kevin.”

“A while.”

“How long?”

“Maybe three weeks.”

The hallway tilted.

Three weeks.

Fourteen burner-phone calls had come during the previous week alone.

Gabriel had known.

Kevin saw the damage land and immediately pressed harder.

“He’s been watching you.”

“Why?”

“Because Voss was watching you first.”

Paige forced herself to keep her voice steady.

“Why was Voss watching me?”

“I told you. Your login was useful.”

“That isn’t enough.”

Kevin looked exhausted now.

Or frightened.

Maybe both.

“You were never supposed to notice anything,” he said. “That was the point. You were supposed to be the exhausted employee with debt problems who made mistakes.”

Paige thought of the stolen shipments.

The forged signature.

The altered password.

The collector’s calls.

A shape emerged.

Not proof.

But shape.

“They wanted a reason for me to look guilty.”

Kevin said nothing.

“That’s why the calls increased.”

Still nothing.

“Did Voss order them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Gabriel let them continue?”

Kevin hesitated.

That answer was enough.

Paige picked up her tote.

“Move.”

“Where are you going?”

“To ask him.”

“Don’t.”

“Move.”

Kevin caught her arm.

Not hard.

But he caught it.

Every nerve in Paige’s body fired.

She looked down at his hand.

Then at him.

“Let go.”

He released her immediately.

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

“I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“You keep saying that after doing things that make my life more dangerous.”

“Because you don’t understand.”

“No, Kevin. I understand something now.”

He went still.

“You always have a reason after you hurt someone.”

The words landed.

For the first time, he had no answer.

Paige stepped around him.

At the stairwell door, she stopped.

“One question.”

Kevin looked up.

“Why did you go to the Jersey City storage facility with Voss?”

His face changed.

There it was again.

Fear.

Real fear.

“You saw that?”

“Yes.”

Kevin’s eyes flicked toward the apartment door as if he suddenly expected it to open.

“He said he needed your file.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Try again.”

Kevin swallowed.

“He wanted your emergency contacts.”

Cold moved through Paige.

“My mother.”

Kevin nodded.

Paige’s fingers tightened around the tote strap.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I swear.”

“You keep swearing like it changes your accuracy.”

“He said leverage. That’s all.”

The word hit harder than a threat.

Leverage.

Paige thought of her mother’s assisted-care facility in Ohio. The monthly invoices. The calls about medication. Buster sleeping beside her mother’s chair.

Kevin stepped closer again, carefully this time.

“Come with me. Tonight. We can get out of the city.”

Paige stared at him.

“Where?”

“I have a car.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

He hesitated.

And Paige understood.

“You don’t have a plan.”

“I have enough cash.”

“From Voss?”

Silence.

“Of course.”

“Paige, please.”

She reached for the stairwell door.

Kevin’s voice sharpened.

“If you go back to Moretti, he’ll tell you he can protect you.”

She paused.

“He can’t.”

“Why not?”

Kevin looked genuinely miserable.

“Because the person feeding Voss information is close to Gabriel.”

That was new.

Paige turned fully.

“Who?”

“I never met them.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Voss gets calls before Gabriel’s meetings. He knows security changes. He knew when Gabriel moved records out of the tower.”

“Did he know Gabriel was investigating me?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Before you called him honey.”

The hallway went completely still.

Paige felt the ridiculous moment in the bullpen replay in her mind.

Gabriel’s pause.

His calm “Thank you, Paige.”

The summons upstairs.

The questions about her dark circles and burner calls.

Not spontaneous concern.

Preparation.

Kevin saw her face.

“I told you.”

Paige opened the stairwell door.

“Where are you going?”

She looked back.

“To stop being the last person in the room to know what’s happening.”

She left him standing in the hallway.

Outside, a black sedan waited across the street.

Nico sat behind the wheel.

Paige marched toward it, fury carrying her faster than fear.

He lowered the window.

“You were told not to follow me into my apartment.”

“I didn’t.”

“Technical compliance is still irritating.”

“You’re welcome.”

She yanked open the passenger door.

Nico looked at her.

“You want a ride?”

“To Gabriel.”

His expression changed slightly.

“That sounds healthy.”

“Drive.”

Nico started the engine.

As they pulled away, Paige looked back once.

Kevin had come out of the building.

He stood beneath the entrance light watching the sedan disappear.

Then another car rolled slowly from the opposite curb.

Kevin saw it.

His face changed.

He turned and ran.

The second car accelerated after him.

Paige twisted in her seat.

“Nico.”

“I see it.”

“Stop.”

“No.”

“That’s Kevin.”

“I know.”

“He could be killed.”

Nico’s hands tightened on the wheel.

“Or he could be leading us somewhere.”

Paige looked at him.

For the first time, she understood how dangerous uncertainty could be.

Then Nico reached for his phone.

“Boss,” he said when Gabriel answered. “We have a problem.”

Paige stared through the rear window at the disappearing taillights.

“No,” she said.

Nico glanced at her.

“We have two.”

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Because Kevin had confirmed Voss was targeting her.

And he had just told her Gabriel had known long before he admitted it.